LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 903 986 5 



HolLingcr 

pH 8.5 

Mm Run F03.2193 



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.S49 



Copy 1 ONSTIXUTION 



...OF... 



The Service Men 



OF THE 



Spanish War. 




Adopted January 12th, 1899. 



CONSTITUTION 



...OF. 



The Servicemen 



OF THE 



Spanish War. 



Adopted January 12th. 1899. 






Thos. Gilbert, Printer and Stationbb, 
1899. 






Tr^ . (v . fi . M- 



CONSTITUTION 

The Service Men of the Spanish War. 

Adopted Jan. 12th, 1899. 

JPREAIVtBLE. 

The subscribers hereto, being mutually agreed 
that the cohesion and patriotism of our own people 
afford the best guarantees of domestic tranquility, 
as well as the stoutest defence against foreign 
aggression or dangerous schism in the body politic, 
seek to promote the ends to be desired by cement- 
ing the friendships formed during the War with 
Spain and stimulating the sentiment of fraternity 
among the soldiers, sailors and marines who were 
united in the conflict that ended Spanish rule in 
Cuba, and accordingly ordain, adopt and pledge 
themselves to the support of this Constitution of 
The Service Men of the Spanish War — a Society 
organized to foster fealty to the United States of 
America and to contribute to the continuance of a 
Republican form of Government. 



4 CONSTITUTION OF THE SERVICE MEN 

ARTICLE I. 

Section 1. The units of organization shall be the 
Local Camps, each to be given the name of some 
deceased American soldier, sailor or statesman, 
and to be numbered in the order of organization. 

Sec 2. The parent Camp — Henry Clay, No. 1 — 
established at Lexington, Ky., shall be supreme 
in all matters pertaining to the ritual and regula- 
tions, organization of new Camps and the general 
government of the Society, until a National Camp 
has been regularly constituted by representative 
authority. 

Sec. 3. Every officer — Army or Navy — commis- 
sioned between the date of the Declaration of War 
with Spain, and the signing of the Treaty of Peace 
at Paris, and every enlisted man ?nustered out of the 
service, is eligible to membership in the organiza- 
tion. Dishonorable discharge or dismissal "with- 
out character" shall be a bar to membership. 

Sec. 4. The officers of each Camp — local, State or 
National — shall be as follows: Commander; Vice- 
Commander; Adjutant and Chief of Staff; Treas- 
urer; Surgeon; Chaplain; Officer of the Day, and 
Sentinel. The first five are elective officers, and 
shall be elected at the annual meeting by a majority 
vote of all members or representatives present and 
voting. The Chaplain, Officer of the Day and 
Sentinel shall be selected and appointed by the 
Commander. 



OP THE SPANISH WAR. O 

Sec. 5. The methods of procedure in the conduct 
of business in the Camps of the Society shall con- 
form to the rules recognized and observed in other 
deliberative bodies. 

Sec. 6. Two Representatives to the State Camp 
shall be elected annually by ballot, by each Local 
Camp, and the one so elected who receives the 
larger number of votes shall also be accredited as 
Representative to the National Camp. The elec- 
tive officers of the State Camps shall be received as 
Representatives at Large in the National Camp 
and shall each have equal voice with other Repre- 
sentatives in the deliberations of that body. If a 
Local Camp shall fail to elect Representatives, or 
a vacancy shall occur in the representation after 
election and before the meeting of the State or 
National Camp, the Commander of the Local 
Camp may appoint the requisite quota of Repre- 
sentatives or fill vacancies. Each Representative 
to the State or National Camp shall present, as his 
credential, the certificate of the Adjutant of the 
Camp by which he is accredited, attesting his 
election or appointment. 

Sec 7 Membership fees and annual dues of 
members may be fixed by Local Camps, but the 
amount of dues so fixed must be payable quarterly, 
and out of the amount derived from this source of 
revenue, twenty-five cents per capita of the mem- 
bership, or such sum as the National Camp may 
direct, shall accrue annually to the treasury of the 



6 CONSTITUTION OP THE SERVICE MEN 

National Camp. The revenue necessary to main- 
tain the State Camps shall be derived from the 
Local Camps, under such regulations as the State 
organization shall prescribe. And only such Local 
Camps shall be entitled to representation in the 
meetings of the State or National Camp as have 
paid the per capita or other dues that accrue re- 
spectively to these organizations. 

ARTICLE II. 

Section 1. Upon application regularly made over 
the signatures of twenty or more officers or enlisted 
men— the latter bteing mustered out of service- 
addressed to the Adjutant of the parent Camp 
(Henry Clay, No. 1), or its successor in control, 
and accompanied by the charter fee, a dispensation 
will be issued by order of the Commander, grant- 
ing authority to organize a Local Camp, which 
will be given number next in order after the last 
assigned. Charter will be issued by the National 
Camp three months thereafter if it has then been 
organized and no valid reason then exists why a 
charter should be withheld. If a charter is de- 
nied, for sufficient cause, one-half of the charter 
fee will be refunded. 

Sec 2. So soon as three or more Local Camps 
have been instituted in any State or Territory of 
the United States, a State Camp may be organized. 
And so soon as State Camps have been regularly 
organized in three or more States, the date will be 



OF THE SPANISH WAR. 



determined and the place designated by the Com- 
mander of the parent Camp for the assembhng of 
the first National Encampment. 

ARTICLE III. 

Section 1. Only such regulations may be made 
for the government of State Camps as are clearly 
in harmony with the Constitution and the laws 
adopted by the National organization. Matters 
purely local in their purpose may be governed by 
By-Laws adopted by the Local Camps and ap- 
proved by the Adjutant of the National Camp. 

Sec. 2. Only such Ritual as is approved and 
authorized by the parent Camp (Henry Clay, No. 
1) or its successor in control, the National Camp, 
shall be used in any ceremonial of the organiza- 
tion. And the use of any other uniform, insignia, 
or emblem suggestive of the objects of the organi- 
zation than that prescribed by the same authority 
is prohibited The blank forms necessary to the 
uniform conduct of the business of the Society 
may be supplied by the respective State Camps, 
but must have the approval of the Adjutant of the 
National Camp. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section 1. The executive power in each Camp 
shall be vested in the Commander, whose authority 
shall be absolute so long as the exercise of it does 
not contravene the Constitution or laws of the 
society, or violate the By-Laws of the Camp of 



8 CONSTITUTION OF THE SERVICE MEN 

which he has control. Appeal from his decisions 
may be made through regular channels to his 
superiors, or to the National Organization when 
in session. 

Sec. 2. The Vice-Commander shall preside at 
any meeting of any Camp upon invitation, or by 
direction of the Commander, or in the absence of 
the latter from the meetings of the Camp, may 
exercise all the functions of the Commander. 

Sec. 3. The absence of the Commander of the 
parent Camp (Henry Clay, No. 1), or its successor, 
the National Camp, from the United States shall 
make it competent for the Vice-Commander to 
assume charge of the headquarters of the society 
and direct its affairs. 

Sec 4. The Adjutant shall be at all times the 
voice and the executor of the will of the Com- 
mander, and shall be the record-keeper of the 
Camp. He shall receive all moneys accruing to 
the Camp, and after making record of their source 
and purposes, shall transfer the same to the Treas- 
urer, taking receipt therefor. Next after the Vice- 
Commander, and in the absence of both Com- 
mander and Vice-Commander, it shall be compe- 
tent for the Adjutant to act in an executive ca- 
pacity. 

Sec. 5. The Treasurer shall be the custodian of 
all the funds of the Camp, and if required by 
authority of the National organization shall give 



OF THE SPANISH WAR. 9 

bond in such sum as may be designated by that 
authority. 

Sec. 6. The Surgeon shall be charged with the 
collection of vital statistics related to the mobiliza- 
tion and maintenance of the army called into 
service for the war with Spain, and shall include 
in his annual reports any suggestions that might 
ameliorate the physical condition of suffering sur- 
vivors of the war. 

Sec. 7. The Chaplain shall exercise the functions 
that usually attach to the office, and shall partici- 
pate in mortuary ceremonials of members of the 
society. 

Sec. 8. The Officer of the Day shall have general 
charge of the "Tent" or meeting place of the 
Camp, the custody of paraphernalia and the di- 
rection of arrangements for the assemblages of the 
society. 

Sec. 9. The Sentinel shall have charge of the 
entrance to the "Tent" in which the meetings of 
the Camp are held 

ARTICLE V. 

Section 1. Memberships may be transferred from 
one Local ('amp to another upon proper applica- 
tion and certificate. Upon a majority vote of those 
present in the Camp from which the member 
would withdraw the Adjutant will issue the neces- 
sary certificate. The admission of the demitted 
member into another Camp will be by majority 



10 CONSTITUTION OF THE SERVICE MEN 

vote of the members of the Camp in which the 
certificate is presented. 

ARTICLE VI. 

Section 1. Benefits to sick members and mortuary 
expenses may be assumed by Local Camps under 
such regulations as they may, themselves, pre- 
scribe, but they may not be made a charge upon 
the society at large. 

ARTICLE VII. 

Section 1. The assemblage of five members of a 
Local Camp, at the time and place designated by 
notice issuing from the office of the Adjutant, 
shall constitute a quorum for the regular trans- 
action of business. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Section 1. Proxies shall not be voted at any 
meeting of a State Camp or of the National Camp 
after the initial meeting. 

ARTICLE IX. 

Section 1. Quarterly reports indicating the 
strength and condition of each Local Camp and 
its financial status must be made by the Adjutant 
and the Treasurer respectively, of each Camp, 
through the Adjutant and Treasurer of the State 
Camp to the Adjutant and Treasurer of the Na- 
tional Camp These reports shall be submitted for 



OF THE SPANISH WAR. 11 

the information of the Commander of the Na- 
tional Camp. 

Sec. 2. Official Communications originating in 
the Local Camps, asking for any action at the 
hands of the National Commander, must be sent 
through the offices of both the State and National 
Adjutant. Copies of such communications may, 
however, be sent direct. 

ARTICLE X. 

Section 1. The organization of Camps of the 
Service Men of the Spanish War in harmony with 
the plan of organization set forth in its prospectus 
and consistent with the purposes represented in 
its articles of incorporation, shall be construed as 
a ratification of this Constitution. 

Sec. 2. This Constitution may be amended by 
majority vote of the whole number of represen- 
tatives accredited to the annual meeting of the 
National Camp The amendment to be offered 
must, however, have been published in the Local 
Camps three months prior to the annual meeting 
of the National Camp at which the amendment is 
to be voted upon. 



OFFICERS 

OF 

CAMP HENRY CLAY No. 1. 

LEXINGTON, KY. 



Col. ROBERT W. LEONARD, 

Commander. 

Lt.-Col. ROBT. W. banks, 
Vice-Commander. 

Capt. WILSON I. DAVENNY, 
Adjutant and Chief of Staff. 

Col. GEO. W. GUNDER, 
Treasurer. 

Major JEFFERSON D. GRIFFITH, 
Surgeon. 



Chaplain. 

Major J. EMBRY ALLEN 
Officer of the Day . 



Sentinel. 



LJ.BKHKY U\- LUNOKtbb 

lll'lllllii 



013 903 986 5 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 903 986 5 




HoUinger 

pH 8.5 

Mm Run F03.2193 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 903 986 5 



HoUinger 

pH 8.5 

MiU Run F03.2193 



